Paper Mario: The Mystical Artifacts/Chapter 3: Ztar Madnezz
This is the third chapter of Paper Mario: The Mystical Artifacts. Chapter 3: Ztar Madnezz -Mushroom Fields With Ginny's help, the heroes manage to get to a new area of Mushroom Fields, where Star Mountain is located. After going through a pathway full of Crazee Dayzees, Mario and his friends reach their destination. --- -Star Mountain As the group starts climbing the mountain, they are suddenly stopped by a group of Ztars, who say that this place now belongs to the Ztar Army. With this, they attack. After the Ztars are defeated, they retreat, and Mario and co. keep going, fighting more Ztars along the way. Eventually they reach a small village called Starry Sky Village, which is populated by Goombas and Bob-ombs. --- -Starry Sky Village Here, Mario and co. notice that all the villagers are in panic, begging for help. Seeing the new faces, the mayor of the village, a female Goomba named Goomstrella, asks them for help and says what's going on: an army of Ztars came recently and kidnapped all the Star Kids that live in this village, all of which were looked after by the residents. What's worse is that their leader, the fearsome Monztar, plans to use a dark spell to turn all the Star Kids into Ztars to make his army even bigger, since the spell only works in Stars. Horrified by this, Mario and his friends tell the mayor that they're going to rescue the kids. Just then, an old Bulky Bob-omb walks by and says that he heard the conversation. He introduces himself as Franco and says that he wants to help Mario rescue the Star Kids, since he is one of their caretakers. Seeing that he won't take 'no' for an answer, Mario lets Franco join the party. Just before they leave the village, though, Franco's wife shows up and asks him where he's going. After telling his wife where they are going and convincing her that everything will be fine, Franco, along with Mario and co., leave the village. --- -Star Mountain On their way to the top, Mario and co. fight even more Ztars, along with some Moon Clefts. At one point, Bowser shows up along with Kammy Koopa, saying that this time he will destroy Mario for good. With this, the duo attack. Mini Boss: Bowser and Kammy Koopa After being defeated once again, Bowser says that he will be back and runs away, with Kammy following behind. Soon after that, the heroes finally reach the top of the mountain. Here, they find the Ztar Fortress, where Monztar lives. However, the front door seems to be sealed shut. Searching the fortress' surroundings, the group finds a statue of Monztar full of cracks, and so Mario uses Franco to blow it up, revealing a pipe. --- -Star Caverns Entering the pipe, Mario and co. find themselves in the Star Caverns and decide to explore the place. Unfortunately, the place is also full of enemies, including Gloombas and Buzzy Beetles. Eventually, they reach the end, where they find a big chest. However, just as Mario approaches the chest, a big and intimidating Ztar shows up. He introduces himself as Commander Z and says that he can't let Mario have what's inside the chest. With this, he attacks. Mini Boss: Commander Z After Commander Z is defeated, Mario opens the chest and finds the Super Hammer, which will allow him to destroy Stone Blocks. Going back a little bit, the group finds a Stone Block stuck on the wall that, once destroyed, reveals a new pathway. Going through this pathway, Mario and co. find some sort of elevator, which takes them to the inside of the Ztar Fortress. --- -Ztar Fortress Here, the heroes fight even more Ztars, as well as some new variations, such as Zwarms and Zhurikens. After solving puzzles and avoiding many traps, Mario and co. reach Monztar's chamber, where they find the leader of the Ztar Army himself, as well as the Star Kids, who are all trapped in cages. Monztar says that he's impressed that they managed to get here, but then boasts that they will never beat him and soon he will take over Star Mountain (and maybe the entire Mushroom Kingdom later). With this, the battle starts. Chapter 3 Boss: Monztar After being defeated, Monztar vanishes, leaving only a key behind, which opens the fortress' front door. With Monztar and his minions defeated, Mario and co. free the Star Kids and go back to Starry Sky Village. --- -Starry Sky Village Goomstrella thanks Mario and co. for saving the kids and decides to give Mario a reward, which turns out to be the Star Glove, one of the Mystical Artifacts. Franco, seeing that the fate of the entire universe is at stake, decides to go with Mario, since he wants the Star Kids to have a great and prosper future. So, with this, Mario and his friends leave Star Mountain. --- -Toad Town Now that they have the Star Glove, Merlon tells the heroes that the next artifact, the Wand of Power, is located in Cheep Cheep Island. He then says that they should go to Palmtree Harbor and rent a boat in order to reach the island. With this, Mario and friends leave Toad Town. --- Meanwhile... --- -Skull King's Palace One of the Skull King's minions is telling his master that Mario has managed to collect three Mystical Artifacts, which surprises and angers the Skull King. "What?! He has three of them already? I can't believe this! This Mario is stronger than I thought. Tell Magician to go after this fool and show him what happens when someone tries to interfere with my plans!" The minion then quickly leaves the throne room. "Mario, I will not let you ruin my plans. You better just give up and wait for your doom. He he he..." --- End Of Chapter. Category:Paper Mario (series) Category:Chapters Category:Mario (series)